Families of actors

My wife replied, “Yes, that’s it. Chihuahua. So how they could allow her to bring a dog to school?” I told her that Lynn Redgrave probably did it once or twice and was then forbidden to do so by the authorities. My mind flashed back to 1962 when, as a British Council scholar, I was attending the Central School of Speech and Drama, Embassy Theatre. World famous actors like Lord Laurence Olivier, Dame Peggy Aschroft, Dame Sybil Thorndyke, Sir Michael Redgrave and many other theatre legends were trained there.

I was the first West Indian to attend Central and at that time, there were only two other black students in the entire school of about two hundred students. We were in the Drama Teachers’ class and the big news was, “The daughter of Sir Michael Redgrave is now in the actors’ class.” The 19-year-old was always accompanied by hangers-on as she walked along the corridors but it was only once I saw her cuddling her teeny-weeny brown Mexican Chihuahua which matched her long auburn hair.

A few years later, I read about her playing the title role in Georgy Girl. She was now a star as her father Michael who was a well-known British actor, director and playwright. His parents were both actors and his wife, Rachel Kempson, was also an actress. Their other two children Vanessa and son, Corin, have made names for themselves on the stage. The only Redgrave I have seen on stage was Sir Michael in Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekhov at the Chichester Theatre in Croydon. They are probably the best known family of actors in England.

When I entered the theatre scene in 1951, there was already a well-known family of actors comprising Errol, Sydney, Lydia and Jean Hill. Of course, they were not paid, but they sure had a professional approach to their parts. In 1948, theatre history was made when for the first time a local drama group, The White Hall Players, had a professional director, RADA trained Dagmar Butt who presented JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls, featuring Errol John in the title role with Errol, Lydia and Jean Hill.

Errol Hill portrayed “Laertes” in Hamlet which the English Actor John Ainsworth staged in Trinidad, Barbados and Guyana in 1955. His brother Sydney, sister Jean and himself were in Drums and Colours by Derek Walcott for the West Indian Festival of Arts in 1958. Sydney and Jean were also in Man Better Man which Errol wrote and directed for the Commonwealth Arts Festival held in England in 1965. I had roles in the three plays mentioned above.

Another family who contributed to the development of theatre on stage, radio and television in Trinidad, was the Ashbys — Osborne, Rita and Frances. The two sisters were in The Strolling Players since 1961. Frances was in the first movie made in Trinidad The Right and the Wrong and was the first “Mabel” in Calabash Alley while Rita was the first “Rachel” in We Crucify Him. Sadly, they have gone to the great beyond to meet their Creator.

Osborne starred in The Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen at the Maria Louise Hall in the Victoria Institute. He adapted, directed and played two roles in The Doctor Inspite of Himself by Moliere. I had the pleasure of acting in the play which was presented as a demonstration piece for the Arts Festival in 1953 at Fatima College and subsequently at QRC and Febeau Village.

When a comedienne was given an award, she replied, “I don’t think I deserve this but I have diabetes, and I don’t think I deserve that either.”